


In Love

by Ono (DistantShenanigans)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 22:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13222416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistantShenanigans/pseuds/Ono
Summary: Love was troublesome; it was unable to be explained, and it came in many forms.





	In Love

**Author's Note:**

> I'm ending the year with Shino/Shikamaru because this is my favorite Rare Pair right now, and ya'll can fight me tbh. (While reading, I strongly recommend listening to Jason Chen's Unexpectedly).
> 
> *This takes place probably a few months before Naruto and Jiraiya come back to Konoha.*
> 
> And as always, this is unbeta'd.

Everyone calls him a genius, and they say he's able to predict the enemy's, and even a comrade's, moves ten steps before they make the first one. He just thinks of the possibilities, of what they could do, and when, and what the best way to avoid it was. It was just _strategy_ , that's all it was. It was something his father had started teaching to him when he was in _diapers_. He still had memories of his father carrying him to the office, and letting him sleep in his lap, and when he didn't sleep, well, if he watched his father make battle plans with several ANBU, then nobody ever mentioned it.

But there was something he _couldn't_ predict.

Love.

Love was troublesome; it was unable to be explained, and it came in many forms. There was love from a parent, given freely and wholly to their child, and there was love between siblings, forced on them, but yet somehow still some of the strongest. There was the love between friends, some where they loved each other so much, it was just as good as if they were siblings.

And then there was the _in_ love, part. He didn't know how to predict the others, not fully, even though parents tend to get predictable, if their child is in danger, but when someone was _in_ love? That was different. They're unpredictable, and irrational, and Shikamaru can never tell the signs of someone who's in love, and someone who isn't.

He couldn't even pick out someone with a _crush_ , because most people aren't like Hinata; they don't get all blushy and shy when the object of their affections smiles at them. They weren't always like Naruto, either, who made it clear who their affections were for, and showed off for them. Most were silent, like Kiba, who decided he'd suffer being Chouji's friend, rather than ask him out and lose his friendship (even though Shikamaru stared at Shino like the other teen's best friend was nuts, because Chouji literally had a crush on Kiba, too). Some were like Chouji, who showed it in small, but very huge, personal ways; like sharing a bag of potato chips, or, in the case of Kiba, letting the other have the _last_ chip, and damn if that didn't show the Akimichi's love for the Inuzuka.

He'd asked his parents, a long time ago, what it was like to be _in_ love, and then he'd asked Asuma, not so long a time ago. All three adults had replied with the same thing, all of them with amused smiles, and they had said, _it's like loving your best friend, but there's just something more there. A softer smile, a more genuine laugh, or the desire to hold their hand over anyone else's. It can happen with you aware of it, or unexpectedly._

He hadn't understood it, at the time, but now, he felt like he was starting to understand. It can happen gradually, over time, where one would know it's happening, or it can be sudden, slamming into someone unexpectedly, and causing them to realize just how much they _truly_ love the other person.

While he mused and debated with his unexpected desires, his attention was drawn away from them all, and back to the teenager walking with him.

Their hands had grazed, and Shikamaru was _sure_ it wasn't an accident, with the way Shino's head was tilted towards him, a bit. He looked back in front of him, feeling his ears starting to burn, but he looked up, up at the clouds that were so less complicated and troublesome than feelings and hormones and growing up.

And he reached out to the other, mostly with his fingers, and mostly unsure of himself and Shino, and if this was what they both wanted.

And, yeah, their hands didn't fold together like his parents did, when he was little and they didn't think he was watching, but their pinkies did, nervous and unsure at first, and then firm and confident, when both young men realized it was a mutual, though unexpected, affection.

Love was troublesome, maybe, and falling for Shino was unexpected, but really, he never had a plan when it came to Shino, like he did with his other friends (Going out with Chouji? Plan to go out to eat. Going out with Ino? Plan to suffer through fashion talk, or worse, _shopping_. Going out with Temari? Plan on being bruised in the morning. Kiba? Bring dog treats, and be ready to pet Akamaru when he wants attention. Rock Lee? Bring headache medicine).

With Shino, it was different. It was familiar, somehow, but still new. It was a feeling of gentle calm, and yet of wild excitement; a feeling of control, but somehow being more free than ever before.

Shikamaru may not have planned it, but he was sure this was what his parents and Asuma had meant.

This was _in_ love, in its earliest form.

 

 

 


End file.
